Courage Under Fire

by Patrick Sheane Duncan

Overview

The book that inspired the hit movie starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan!

The Gulf War was the first American war with women in combat command positions, and Captain Karen Emma Walden was one of the best. Yet when her Medevac, a Huey, was shot down over enemy territory, Captain Walden became a casualty, along with one of her men. Now the Army wants to give Captain Walden a medal-the kind fastened on so many men in wars past, but never before on a woman. And Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling's investigation into Walden's career could help revive his own. He'd been a rising star in the war, but his command of a raid that accidentally fired on its own men has destroyed confidence in him.

Now he has the chance to show what kind of job he can do with a delicate mission. Soon Serling discovers that this investigation is far from routine: he finds soldiers wounded more than just physically, stories that don't jibe, mysterious lapses of memory. He must navigate the codes of silence, honor, and loyalty to uncover the truth about the Captain's death-a truth that could destroy Walden's reputation but save Serling's career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781959205425
Publisher:	Encyclopocalypse Publications
Publication date:	10/28/2022
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.67(d)

Editorial Reviews

A powder-keg investigation into the actions of the first woman eligible for the Army's Medal of Honor in combat keynotes Duncan's exciting debut. Lt. Col. Nat Serling has been racked with guilt ever since four members of his tank unit died under friendly fire in the Gulf War. Now Nat is assigned the inquiry into another fatal Gulf War incident-one that led to the death of helicopter pilot Cpt. Karen Emma Walden, who is in line for the Medal of Honor. Serling suspects collusion when Walden's crew chief, medic and machine gunner at first supply the same details of the event. But as the three begin to break, their confessions provide vivid, disturbing images of the physical and psychological brutalities of war. Serling, meanwhile, suffers the demons of depressive drinking as he struggles to rebuild his marriage, career and life by assuaging the remorse arising from his own desert storm. Duncan constructs this novel with the slick cinematic skill that has made him a top Hollywood screenwriter (Nick of Time, etc.), and when Serling finally uncovers the truth of what happened both to himself and to Walden, there won't be a dry eye in the house. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An Army wunderkind whose upwardly mobile career has been stalled by a friendly-fire incident during the Gulf War redeems himself in the course of an investigation.

Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling has been in an alcoholic funk since his tank squadron killed fellow Americans in the fog of battle. Though he was cleared of blame for the deaths, Serling's inability to forget makes life miserable for his colleagues and family. Stuck with meaningless duties at the Pentagon, the hard- drinking Serling is handed a politically sensitive assignment by a sympathetic general that could help him regain the confidence of his superiors. His task is to determine whether there are any eleventh-hour obstacles to making the late Captain Karen Emma Walden the first woman to earn the Medal of Honor for valor in combat. The pilot of a medevac helicopter that had been shot down on a rescue mission behind enemy lines during the Desert Storm campaign, she helped hold off scores of heavily armed Iraqis (at the cost of her life) during a nightlong firefight; her courageous stand permitted the recovery of a dozen wounded soldiers. While conducting his cross-country inquiry, however, Serling gets conflicting testimony from surviving eyewitnesses. Dogged by a White House aide whose masters scent a photo op, the world-weary colonel unearths evidence of a possible coverup and sorts through confessions as well as statements that oblige him to reflect on the nature of duty, heroism, and cowardice. In the wake of a violent climactic confrontation, Serling is able to reach an accommodation with himself and recommend that appropriate honor be paid the memory of Captain Walden.

Serling's whiny self-pity can reach truly tiresome heights on occasion, but first-novelist/screenwriter Duncan delivers an engrossing twist on the dilemma of a devil's advocate in a military milieu.

Kirkus Reviews